Liberis Raises $154M to Expand Small Business Funding Platform

Embedded business finance platform Liberis has secured 140 million British pounds (about $154 million) in financing to expand its funding program for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The financing, from Barclays Bank and BCI Finance, brings Liberis’ total funding to 350 million pounds (about $$387 million), the United Kingdom company announced in a Thursday (Sept. 29) press release.

Based in London, Liberis’ platform applies machine learning to understand a customer’s risk profile and the maximum funding available to them, allowing for higher volumes of origination, the release stated. The company has given close to $1 billion to more than 21,000 SMBs across the U.K., Europe and the United States.

“This is a great opportunity for Liberis to continue helping [SMB] growth across the globe, especially in such uncertain times that have been brought upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Liberis CEO Rob Stassthof. “This funding will be crucial to supporting our partners in funding their [SMB] customers to close the ever-expanding global funding gap.”

Liberis’ global partner network consists of eCommerce platforms like Klarna and acquirers that include Barclaycard, Worldpay from FIS, Clover and Global Payments, according to the release.

In June, Liberis and Barclaycard joined forces to offer SMB customers access to personalized, revenue-based financing. That collaboration came on the heels of Barclays’ investment of 34.5 million pounds (about $38 million) in Liberis in 2021.

Read more: Barclaycard, Liberis Offer SMBs Revenue-Based Financing

The partnership gives clients access to Barclaycard Business Cash Advance, a solution designed to help fund SMBs with fixed-cost financing.

While only 10% of consumers are familiar with embedded finance, many of them are using embedded experiences whether they realize it or not. For example, almost a third of U.S. consumers have used embedded payments through using rideshare apps, and more than 40% of consumers have used digital wallets.

See more: With Digital Payment Needs Growing, Embedded Finance Can Help

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